The Hazing Tower

by Leland Roys

  He was trying to make mental notes of all this; it was thrilling to him. He laughed inside as he realized he was memorizing how to steal a car!

  “OK, you stay here until I get it started. A woman is much less likely to be suspected of anything than a guy hanging around a car.”

  Minutes later he heard the car start. He slowly opened his door and, as she backed out, he jumped into the passenger side of their new car.

  “OK, now the next step. Tell me again about the system you had with Hunter in case of emergency.”

  It was a number, a phone number. I memorized it. But we don’t have a phone, and I don’t think they have pay phones anymore.

  She smiled again. “That one is easy. I always feel a bit bad doing it, but give me a second.” She pulled around and parked near a clothing store.

  “Switch seats with me, keep the engine running.”

  He slid over to the driver’s seat and waited. He watched the people walking by. Everything seemed more intense now. It seemed like everyone was looking at him, had to be his imagination. He really needed to work on this spy stuff. It seemed like every sensation was magnified. The engine running, everyone on the road, all his senses seemed to be on overload. Must be the adrenalin, he had never been this hyped up before.

  He jumped a bit as the passenger door opened. She slid in and handed him a cell phone with a bright pink cover.

  “She probably will deactivate it soon, so better call fast, and then we will dump it so they can’t track us.”

  He searched the glove box and found a pen and paper and called the number.

  “It’s a website. Actually it’s an FTP site, for file transfer. He wrote it down.”

  “They must have information in a file, encrypted probably. We need a computer. I will have to run a program to decode it, this cell phone Internet won’t be enough.”

  “I think I know where to go. There is an Internet cafe, I know the owner, She won’t turn us in. I bet she will let us use a computer in the back room.” Jinny winked.

  They walked into the cafe separately. Jinny kept her head down until she got to the counter. She motioned for Josh to follow her.

  They went into a back room and Josh saw the computer. “Perfect,” he said.

  “Jinny, are you in some kind of trouble?” A young girl was talking to her.

  “Yes, you could say that. Promise you won’t say I was here, all right?”

  “Of course, sure, anything. I will give you some space, take as long as you want.”

  Josh logged into the FTP site. He downloaded the data to a USB drive and logged into the MIT computers.

  “I will have to do this fast, they will probably be tracking my access to the site computers, but I have no choice, I can’t decode this without my programs.

  He ran the program and the data showed up on the screen.

  “An address?”

  “It looks like it. Yes, it’s upstate New York. I recognize the area code.” Jinny could feel her heart rate increase.

  Jinny had fallen asleep in the passenger seat. She looked so beautiful. He wondered what they would find at this address. Hunter had gone totally off the grid; for all he knew, this could be a trap. He thought for a second about turning around. Why should he put Jinny in danger like this? He started to slow down.

  “Are we there?” She wiped her eyes.

  “Oh, no, I just was distracted.” He sped up again.

  She looked over at him. “You were going to turn around?”

  “Am I that obvious? Wow— I must be a goof.”

  “Josh, you’re not a goof, you are a gentleman, a nice guy. Do you know how hard that is to find? You were worried about me, about my safety.”

  He nodded.

  “I haven’t asked you for anything yet, right?”

  “No, you haven’t.”

  “I want to ask you for something now.”

  “Anything!”

  “Never call yourself a goof again!”

  “OK.” His face went red yet again.

  She took his hand. “We do this together. You better not run off on me. I will kick your ass!”

  He smiled. He was sure she would, and could.

  They had switched drivers about two hours back. She poked him in the arm and he woke up. “You won’t believe this!” His vision cleared and he saw the mansion in front of him.

  “Wow—”

  “Yeah. Wow! It’s enormous!”

  He was fully awake now. “Do we just knock on the front door?”

  “Honestly, I don’t know. This is where my car stealing expertise ends. I never broke into mansions,” she said laughing quietly.

  “Let’s park down the road and take a look.”

  The estate was huge, they hugged the outside walls as they walked around. “It doesn’t seem like anyone is home.”

  “I know, it seems so quiet. No lights, nothing.”

  “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

  “Breaking in?” He felt nervous.

  She nodded. “Well, I mean we came this far.”

  “Do you think they have alarms? They must, I mean look at this place.”

  “Jinny, where are you?”

  He looked around; she had just been next to him! Where had she gone so quickly?

  “Hey! Over here.”

  He looked to the voice and saw an open door.

  “Wow— that was fast.”

  “I took a chance.” He saw the broken glass and a rock.

  They held hands as they walked down the winding hallway. It opened up into a huge room.

  “This place is like a museum!”

  “So this is how the other half lives.” He held her hand a bit tighter.

  “What now? The information just had the address, nothing more. Do you think we are too late?”

  “All I know is I am starving!” She turned to look at him. “They must have food here—”

  She went running down the hall again.

  “Jinny, slow down, you’re driving me crazy!”

  He caught up with her in the biggest kitchen he had ever seen. It was more like a restaurant.

  “Please don’t run off like that.”

  “Why? Are you worried about me?” She laughed.

  “I am. Jinny, yes, I am.”

  He looked so serious. She suddenly felt bad. She walked up and kissed him.

  “I’m sorry. You are right. I won’t do that any more.”

  “I shouldn’t tell you what to do, Jinny. I know you are strong. I really like you— I just worry.”

  “I don’t mind.”

  “What?”

  “I don’t mind your telling me what to do. Just promise not to tell my girlfriends that!” She kissed him again.

  They sat side by side eating eggs and pancakes at the same time. He really couldn’t keep his eyes off her, she was so calm and collected. So much was going through his mind. He wanted to keep her safe, but how? She wasn’t going to leave him, and anyway where was safe at this point? He didn’t even know what the danger was.

  “You realize we haven’t showered for almost a week, right? Or slept for that matter. And it’s your fault we don’t sleep— sleep if you know what I mean.” She winked at him.

  She was right. Oh, wow— he must be so rank. He hadn’t changed clothes or showered for days, he hadn’t even thought about it with all the excitement. He felt bad. She must be exhausted. Whenever they got into bed, they never actually slept. He smiled a little as he thought about it.

  They walked down more hallways; the place was so big a whole city could live here he figured.

  “In here!” They walked into what had to be the biggest shower, or basically spa room, he’d ever seen. She started to strip down.

  “Come on! Take it off, you need a shower, trust me.”

  “I should wait outside, what if someone finds us?”

  “In this place! It would take months. He looked back to her. She was completely naked.”

  “You really
want to miss this?”

  The steam surrounded them as they kissed.

  “Jinny, I never thought I would be this close to you, I wish it could be under better circumstances. I know I keep saying it, but you are so beautiful.”

  “Well thank you, Professor. You’re not so bad yourself.”

  “Sorry I can’t help but stare.”

  She laughed hard. “Let me tell you a little secret. A secret girls don’t usually let on to. We like it when the right guys stare, guys we like. And I like you, Josh. Stare away!” She did a spin.

  He held her hand as he wondered how all of this had happened to him. And what he should do next.

  Jinny seemed to be better at navigating the mansion as they. She found a bedroom and robes for both of them.

  “You said you would let me tell you what to do sometimes, right?”

  “That I did,” she said, faking a funny accent.

  “I really want to stay awake this time. I don’t want someone sneaking up on us while we are both sleeping.”

  “That’s smart. But we take shifts then. You go first since you are the man.”

  That made him laugh. “What happened to women’s rights and all that stuff?”

  “Ah, we only use that card when we need to” She said smiling.

  He pulled himself under the silk sheets with her. “Jinny, I should tell you something.”

  “Oh, no, this sounds serious.”

  He sat up and looked at her.

  “Oh, it is serious.”

  She wasn’t sure what to think.

  “I think I should tell you. I love you, Jinny.”

  Her eyes flew open. “Well, thank God! The guy is supposed to say it first. I have been waiting forever.” She tugged at his arm.

  “Josh, I think I have been in love with you since you took me on as your grad student, you dummy.”

  “What?”

  “Like I said before, we need to work on your skills when it comes to reading people. For an MIT professor, you don’t seem to pick up on flirting.” She laughed, almost like a giggle.

  “I didn’t think you would be interested, I mean in a guy like me.”

  “Oh, Josh— come just a little closer.”

  “Are you going to punch me?” He actually wasn’t sure.

  “Well, you won’t know until you— come just a little bit closer— ”

  She didn’t punch him.

  A couple hours must have passed. He looked over, she was sleeping so calmly. She was right; they hadn’t slept for days actually, not real sleep. Even though he was exhausted, the adrenalin seemed to be keeping him awake for now.

  He slowly slid out from under the sheets and looked around the room. He looked through the dresser. Lots of clothes, more than he probably ever owned his whole life. He guessed in the morning they could check every room here, maybe find a clue, something that would tell them why this address meant something.

  He felt something metal and pulled the clothes off of it. A gun. He found a gun covered by socks. A shiver went down his back. He pulled out the gun and looked at it. He had never used a gun before, he wasn’t even sure if it was loaded. He knew the basics of guns. It wasn’t a revolver, a semi-automatic he guessed, with a magazine, or clip for the ammunition.

  Clearly whoever did live here thought they needed protection. Now he felt that worry come back again even stronger. He looked over to Jinny sleeping. Should he wake her up? Not now, he wanted to let her sleep. He sat down on the floor next to the bed and looked at the gun again. It didn’t seem to have a safety switch on it; he thought all guns did. And the trigger looked weird, like it was two triggers in one. Well, in any case, it seemed heavy; he hoped that meant it was loaded. He would use it if he had to, at least he thought he would. He knew he would if it came down to protecting Jinny.

  He snapped back awake soaked in sweat. Damn, he had fallen asleep. He jumped up and checked that Jinny was still there. She was sleeping calmly.

  Coffee! That’s what he needed. He needed caffeine to stay awake. The kitchen wasn’t far. He set the gun under the counter and started brewing a pot. The smell was delicious and almost woke him up by itself. He picked up the pot and turned to pour it.

  He dropped it and the glass shattered on the tile floor.

  “Jinny!”

  “You can use her real name, Alexander. And here he told us you were the best! What a joke.” The man laughed hard.

  He was holding a gun to Jinny’s head, tears were flowing down her face.

  “Maybe I will just kill Nikki right now? What do you think, superman?”

  Josh let his fingers find the gun. It was right there. Please God, he said to himself. Please let it be loaded. He pulled it up faster than he thought he could ever move and pulled the trigger.

  CRACK! The sound was shocking. He saw the man fall backwards.

  “Run! Jinny, Run!”

  She looked stunned as she scrambled back up off the floor completely naked. “Josh, behind you!”

  He swung around and pulled the trigger again without looking. A man fell against him and knocked him down flat onto the counter. The dead weight on top of him left him pinned against the counter.

  “Jinny, for me! Please, run! Run, now!”

  He slid out from under the man and could hear Jinny running down the hallway with her bare feet. He heard another loud crack and the tile wall exploded all around him. He couldn’t hear a thing anymore, not even his own voice.

  He dropped to the floor and felt something grab his leg. He looked back. It was the man who had threatened Jinny, he was still alive. He saw him raise a gun. Josh sat back up and shot him, this time in the neck. Blood sprayed out and soaked Josh in red. He tried to wipe his eyes; everything was a blur of red.

  He stumbled back up to his feet and walked to the hallway that Jinny had run down. He looked left and saw more men coming. He aimed the best he could and fired, over and over. He couldn’t hear anything, he couldn’t tell if the gun was empty or not. He saw a flash of fire from the front of the gun. The flashing stopped. He figured the gun must be empty. He ran back into the kitchen and slipped on the blood and fell head first into the side wall. He reached over and grabbed the weapon from the dead man.

  He wasn’t even sure what it was, it looked like some type of machine gun he had seen in movies. He waited until they came. He saw movement at the door. He thought to himself, What if it is Jinny? They might use her as a human shield. A man dressed in all black came running in. Josh pulled the trigger. The force pushed him back against the wall as bullets sprayed the entire kitchen. The wall in front of him started to collapse. Pots and pans were dropping and slamming into the floor. He could see fire shooting out of the tip of the gun for almost a foot. Suddenly everything went dark. The lights must have been shot out. He pulled the trigger, nothing.

  He felt himself slump to the floor; it was like he had lost control of every muscle in his body. He could sense he was going to black out. He hoped Jinny had made it out somehow, that was the last thing he thought of before everything went black.

  • • •

  Daydreams

  Nikki woke up to the sound of the ocean and birds. She jumped out of her bed and ran to the small window. She was on the top floor of the tower; the view was magnificent. Everything seemed more vivid — the colors, the smells. She realized she wasn’t wearing any clothes and jumped back under the sheets. She could probably sleep forever if she let herself. With no pain, it was like heaven now. But then again, this was her first time to travel anywhere. This was Nikki New. She pulled on her pants and shirt and walked down the long circular staircase.

  Was he still asleep? That was odd. She wasn’t sure if she should peek or not. She did anyway. He seemed to be sleeping. She still couldn’t see if he had the tattoo. She quietly closed his door.

  She walked outside, took a deep breath of fresh air. In the daylight, it was even more breathtaking than at night. She could see houses along the cliff; all bright blue or white, the
y looked like they had been painted last week. Her bare feet felt good on the soft grass. She studied the building where she had spent the night. It was a windmill, though probably not a working one. It still had the wood structure of the full windmill, but it wasn’t turning in the wind. It looked like it was tied down with ropes.

  She could see her room from here, at the very top of the tower.

  “Are you married?”

  She swung around and saw a young boy, maybe seven years old.

  She smiled. “You’re not supposed to ask a girl that question on a first date.”

  He pouted, “So you’re not Alex’s wife then?”

  She felt her heart skip a beat. She remembered the ring, the fake marriage. She had almost totally forgotten about it.

  “Oh, yes, I’m just joking. I am his wife. Do you live near here?”

  “My mom runs a shop in town; Alex hasn’t visited for so long. Hey! Want to see something?”

  “Sure.” He grabbed her hand and took her down the trail to a thick bunch of bushes. “Look, you see it, inside.”

  It was a snake. It looked almost like a garden snake but she couldn’t be sure. “Are you going to catch it?”

  “Nah, my mom doesn’t like it when I do that. Hey, will you come to the store sometime?”

  “I would love to, what’s your name?”

  “Billy. I like Bill, but my mom says I’m not old enough.”

  “Well, I can call you Bill.”

  He gave her a big smile at that. She saw his eyes look behind her. She turned around and saw Alex.

  “I see you met Bill.”

  “Alex! Come see what I found!” Alex looked at the snake and smiled. “I think he lives here.”

  “I met your wife,” the boy said. “She seems OK, I guess; she didn’t scream when she saw the snake.” He spoke to Alex as if Nikki wasn’t even there; she had to hold in the laughter.

  Alex took her hand and it sent a shock wave of electricity through her.